


Tremors

by orphan_account



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: David Acting as Max's Parental Figure | Dadvid (Camp Camp), Delirium, Everyone cares for Max, F/M, How Do I Tag, M/M, Mom Gwen, More characters will come in eventually, Protective David (Camp Camp), Protective Gwen (Camp Camp), Romantic feelings are very mild, Should I even tag the ships, Sick Character, Sickfic, There isnt a tag for parental Gwen, They don't even exist right now, This fic has art, This is my first fic I'm actually posting pls, This will be only a couple chapters long at most, Vomiting, but it's the first part to a series, im going to
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:42:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25319971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Max is sick. Fortunately, his newfound family is there for him. Unfortunately, his sickness is worse than everyone had initially thought.My first Camp Camp fic and my first fic on AO3, woah. I don't know how to summarize, let alone write an actual fic. Sorry bout dat 😔(Abandoned Work)
Relationships: David & Max (Camp Camp), David/Gwen (Camp Camp), Gwen & Max (Camp Camp), Max/Science Camp Neil (Camp Camp)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 59





	Tremors

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my first fic on this site??? Criticism is accepted and feedback is very welcome. Enjoy!

David woke with a startled yelp as his and Gwen’s bedroom door slammed open, light from the hallway pouring in and blinding him as soon as his eyes were open. Gwen, on the other hand, lets out a groan and lifts herself from her bed slowly.

“Neil...?” She croaks, squinting at the frantic-looking figure in the doorway.

David’s nerves steady ever so slightly. It’s just a camper— but also— it’s a camper. Usually, none of them will barge into their room at this time of night (only between 10 pm - 3 am would they do so. It’s 5 am. Gwen gets so incredibly grouchy and exhausted to the point where they’re all too terrified of her to seek any help after said time.) unless it was for an emergency that wasn’t “I miss my parents” or “I can’t sleep”.

“If this is another thing about science project side effects, I’m kicking you out of this fucking camp,” Gwen warns in a weary and scratchy voice. That’s when you knew she wasn’t kidding around.

But, David butts in any way.

“Gwen doesn’t mean that, Neil,” David reassures with a crooked, sleepy smile after seeing the uneasy look on Neil’s face worsen, “What’s up, kiddo?”

“It’s Max,” Neil begins, and David can feel his stomach cramp as soon as his— although he would never admit it— favorite camper is mentioned in whatever went down, “He— He threw up. He’s sick— like super sick, and he’s crying and panicking, and _I'm_ panicking and—“

“Woah, Woah Neil, slow down there, bud,” Gwen interrupts, her voice still gravelly from sleep, but otherwise, it’s a much gentler tone from when Neil burst in as her alarm, “Max threw up? Is he still in the tent?”

“Yeah, he is— I— I—“ A sinking realization hits Neil, and his eyes widen, “I left him alone!”

“Neil!” Gwen whisper-shout-whines, dragging her hands down her face, “Everyone knows that Max won’t miss the chance to run away when he feels vulnerable— dammit—“

David cuts her off by tossing his blanket off, snatching a lantern off of their desk, and hurrying out the door, not bothering to put on any type of shoes, heading out in only his striped pajamas. Gwen and Neil glance at each other worriedly before trailing hastily behind him. The other two had apparently done the same thing David did because he can hear a soft “ow” from Neil as he steps on something.

As soon as they get around to the tents, they need to be as silent as possible, as to not stir any of the other campers. They wouldn’t want more company in the tiny tent, or any more humiliation for Max. The three of them already know very well that Max wouldn’t want them in there right now anyway, so another camper in this situation wouldn't solve anything.

They pad on through the grass and dirt, wincing whenever they step on a pointed pine needle or a random unidentified object that they pray isn’t infected with some type of disease when it stabs into the flesh of their foot.

Wow, they really should’ve put shoes on.

Neil and Gwen stand behind David as he gently flips open the flaps of the tent, lantern entering with him and illuminating the small space with a dim light.

It brightens the room enough for him to spot Max curled in on himself on his bed, facing away from him and breathing rapid and shallow. Tremors wrack his delicate frame. His hoodie has been discarded onto the floor, seemingly damp with what David assumes is vomit, if the odor doesn’t already hint at it.

“Max...?” David whispers at the lump of boy, “It’s David. I’m going to get you into the cabin, okay?”

There’s no response other than the soft sound of Max’s breathing and the slight, sharp shifts of his trembling against the sheets.

David enters fully, struggling not to breathe too deeply. It smells awful.

“I’m going to pick you up, okay?” He warns kindly as he hears the flaps reopen as Gwen and Neil peer in to inspect.

He inches himself towards Max’s bed, fully expecting the boy to lash out, but Max stays completely still and silent aside from the constant trembling and rise and fall of his breathing.

Neil and Gwen shoot each other a concerned glance before going back to concentrating on the scene before them. Max seems completely out of it.

David slides his arms between Max and the bed, scooping the boy up tenderly to his chest to reveal that Max’s eyes are shut, and he’s clutching tightly onto his teddy, Mr. Honeynuts, if he can recall the name correctly. He’s also abnormally warm, and David notices the sweat on his forehead gleaming in what dim light the lantern provides them with, along with the dark bags beneath his eyes.

“We’ll take care of you, Max, don’t worry,” David sighs, peering over at Gwen.

She obliges to the silent question and enters the tent to grab the lantern. Neil keeps the flaps open for the three of them, and they all tread their way, barefoot, back to the cabin.

—

David places Max down gently onto the semi-comfortable cushions of the chair in front of the tv with only two channels, the petite boy fitting snugly into the one-person piece of furniture. The sudden loss of his former comfort in David’s arms elicits a groan from Max, who reaches back out towards David for a moment before he curls in on himself like he had been doing back in the tent. His eyes are still closed, and his brows are furrowed. The borderline-seizure trembling continues as he wraps around his bear.

“Is he going to be okay?” Neil questions quietly, frowning down at his fragile tentmate, “He looks like a tanned zombie.”

“Neil, don’t say that,” Gwen grumbles as she rubs the drowsiness from her eyes, “He’s right there, you know.

“I don’t think he can make out what any of us are saying,” Neil explains, “He seems… delirious. Like he’s in another world. He’s probably falling in and out of sleep right now.”

“I thought you were a scientist, not a doctor,” Gwen tilts her head at Neil, and he gives her an unimpressed look before she sighs and turns heel, “I’ll go grab whatever medicine we have left.”

“Thank you, Gwen,” David speaks up for the first time since they’ve been inside the cabin.

Gwen nods even though David can’t see it from where he’s kneeled beside Max, studying the boy with an intense stare.

“...What’re you doing…?” Neil asks as he moves to stand beside David.

“Neil, do you know what could've caused this?”

Neil raises a brow, about to nod his head no before his eyes light up, and his hand lands on his chin. He hums as a memory comes back to him. David waits patiently, and Neil doesn’t understand how David has that ability with anybody.

“He did say he was feeling a little off yesterday, but he kind of brushed it off?” Neil begins, “He was muttering something about his stomach hurting and how he wished he’d eaten Quartermaster’s gross pancakes that morning and maybe his stomach wouldn’t be hurting. Nikki and I were kinda worried, but I didn’t think it would get this bad. He complains a lot, so I didn’t know-!”

“It’s okay, Neil,” David interrupts in an attempt to comfort the camper, “A lot of other people might’ve done the same. Max is pretty keen on complaining, yes, but you’re also not a doctor, and you’re not responsible for Max’s health, either.”

Neil doesn’t look too convinced, but David takes what he can get at the moment, and that’s Neil’s cooperative silence.

“Thank god, we still have a little bit of cold medicine left,” Gwen announces as she hurries back into the room, uncapping a small bottle of purple liquid, “I don’t know how sanitary this is though… so if he dies—“

“Gwen!” David yelps, “Just— did you wash the cup?”

“Well, of course,” Gwen replies as she kneels next to David, “I dunno where this thing’s been.”

She holds up the small plastic cup to inspect it, little droplets of tap water still clinging onto it.

“Okay, can you wake him up for me?” Gwen asks David as she begins filling the cup to its fill line, “The little shit can go back to sleep right after.”

David nods and raises his hands to prod carefully at Max’s arm, cringing inwardly at how warm he was. He must be miserable.

“Hey, kiddo,” David whispers sweetly, “Wake up for a moment, we have some medicine for you to take.”

Slowly but surely, an aqua eye cracks open groggily, and then the other. He inspects them curiously before eyeing the cup with his life-saving syrup waiting in it.

“Here, I’ll help you sit up,” Gwen offers before digging a hand under Max’s head to raise it enough to bring the cup to his chapped lips.

To everyone’s surprise, he accepts the help and downs the medicine without complaint. Not a glare in anyone’s direction. Then, he’s back to putting all of his weight down into Gwen’s hand and shutting his eyes again.

“Little dude must be tired,” Gwen says with a bittersweet smile, carefully placing his head back down onto the chair cushion and sliding her hand away, “Alright, I think we should all be heading back to bed now.”

“I’m staying with Max,” Neil and David decide at the same time, much to Gwen’s surprise—well, not David— but Neil?

“There’s nothing else but the chair in here though?” Gwen says as she beckons to the room.

Then there’s a pause.

“Fine, I’ll get the sleeping bags out,” Gwen sighs with a small smile and a roll of her eyes before once again leaving the room to grab supplies for everyone.

Neil turns back towards Max, stress and anxiety plastered all over his face.

“What’s on your mind, Neil?” David questions from where he’s resting beside the chair.

“It’s just… how do we know if this is just a regular cold or not? He’s shaking pretty badly for a cold, and he looks pretty delirious, too. That doesn’t happen to me when I get a little cold!”

David glances up at Neil with concern. Neil is right, some of these symptoms do appear a little bit extreme for a common cold, but then again…

“Max is small,” David responds, averting his gaze to the said boy, “And, like you were saying earlier, he doesn’t really eat the food here, if not, the food anywhere, really. I don’t think he sleeps very much, either…”

Neil tilts his head confusedly at the last part but lets David continue.

“His body may not have as much nutrition as yours or mine does, and that may be why he reacts so much worse to all of these viruses. His— Max’s immune system may not be built up as sturdily as ours.”

“I mean… I guess that makes sense?” Neil shrugs, “Why do you think he doesn’t eat or sleep then?”

“That’s--” David stammers, eyebrows shooting up as he realizes the information he had accidentally just revealed to Max’s friend, “I think that’s private information right now-”

“Sleeping bag and pillow for you,” Gwen cuts in, launching a bunched up olive green sleeping bag and a pillow at David’s head, earning a startled yelp from both him and Neil, “And sleeping bag and pillow for you.”

She tosses Neil a blue sleeping bag and pillow, and he catches them both clumsily in his hands. Then, Gwen pads over to stand beside Max and places a yellow blanket over him. He doesn’t react at first, but eventually, his tiny hands clutch shakily at the edges of it to pull it up to conceal the bottom half of his face, and he releases a tiny, raspy, somewhat content sigh.

“Okay,” Gwen says quietly, turning away from Max and unraveling her purple bag, “Everyone to sleep, right now, or I’ll seriously lose it.”

Neil and David both stare up at her, perplexed, and Gwen glares back at them with an unamused expression.

“What?”

“You’re staying? Don’t you want to sleep in your bed?” David asks from where he’s sitting beside the chair.

“Yeah, I thought you hated taking care of us,” Neil continues bluntly, folding out his sleeping back out onto the floor, right in front of the chair. David places his own on the right of Neil.

“What- well- yes, but this is different,” Gwen stammers, “I hate picking up everybody’s messes and dealing with whatever fight takes place or giving them ‘the talk’ because their parents decided not to. I don’t mind taking care of somebody if they’re sick-- it’s just the right thing to do. And, maybe my motherly instincts do exist, but that’s beside the point.”

Neil tucks himself into his sleeping bag as Gwen splays out her own on Neil’s left side, and he turns in her direction with shock on his face.

“Wait, _you_ can feel motherly instincts?” He gawks up at her.

“Neil, I’m a human female,” She replies with a roll of her eyes, “And I don’t even think gender applies. Anybody can feel parental instincts with anything, it’s natural.”

“Well, of course, but you’re _Gwen_.”

Gwen smooths out her sleeping bag and plops down crisscross on top of it, and glares at Neil.

“What does _that_ have to do with anything?” Gwen growls offendedly, “Do you think I can’t be a mom or something?”

Neil and David both stare at her, Neil with an unmistakable “hell no” face, and David with care, but also a hint of “hell no” buried in there. Gwen sighs.

“Alrighty, it’s 6 am,” David informs, shifting the topic, “Let’s get to sleep, shall we?”

Neil nods and Gwen lets out a huff of “Yeah, whatever,” before tucking herself in and turning away from the two. Neil turns the same way as Gwen, drawing his covers up, and David sprawls on his back, gazing up at the ceiling, listening to the low breathing of Gwen and Neil as they drift to sleep and the small, raspy snores from an already sleeping Max.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! The art is by me, and you can find more of it on my Instagram account, @tmekii. Same user as here :))


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